Publications

There is no period in a company’s history more fraught with anxiety than the months leading up to the naming of a new CEO. Often, the board is eyeing the clock while trying to nudge the CEO into a graceful exit.

Amoco, Anheuser-Busch, Chrysler, Motorola, Wrigley. Great Midwestern companies that failed to adapt to global competition and ended up being acquired. Many others have suffered the same fate or declared bankruptcy, and now the ongoing disruption from globalization and technological change is putting our legacy companies under further pressure.

Every chief executive and board member in the chemical industry is facing the same chronic talent shortage, unable to find enough rising stars at the director and VP level to fill the succession plans for soon-to-retire GMs, country managers and CEOs.

For the fifth consecutive year, Egon Zehnder is honored to announce its presence as a strategic partner at IHS CERAWeek, an event that brings together leaders and experts from the global energy community for exchanges and insights into key issues.

Thomson Reuters recently reported that in the first three weeks of October, 165 American companies cited the slowing global economy in their earnings and revenue outlooks—an increase from the 108 that did so in the same period in 2014 and 97 in the same period in 2013.

Digital innovators from the Silicon Valley are noisily shaking up the automotive world. This has led some to wonder: Could outside players seize control of the automotive industry?
Not likely. Traditional automotive companies have plenty of what it takes – digital abilities as well as deep engineering expertise. But make no mistake, we’re dealing with a two-speed marketplace.

Following a five-year boom, the oil industry is experiencing a downturn due to falling prices at the pump. Steven Goodman, who leads Egon Zehnder’s Energy practice, says executives at oil companies can take advantage of this time to strengthen and enhance their core leadership teams.

The market turbulence, high levels of M&A activity, and the ongoing challenges of public dialogue are testing the mettle of energy industry chairmen and chief executives who must chart a course forward and maintain high performance during uncertain times. To see how industry leaders are grappling with this task, Egon Zehnder convened a panel discussion on energy leadership at CERAWeek 2015, the industry’s premiere annual gathering. Here is what we heard.

Disruption has a way of sneaking up on industries even when they know it is coming. This is because the shift takes place at geometric speed: slowly at first, and then with increasing acceleration. Within the industrial sector, the digital transformation of manufacturing is reaching a critical inflection point.

Automotive OEMs must work in fundamentally new and different ways to deliver the Connected Car that consumers so clearly desire. The shift begins with objectively assessing and developing leaders’ potential to drive deep strategic change and build more open cultures that effectively integrate diverse expertise.

Egon Zehnder recently organized a roundtable discussion (on May 27, 2013) in Mumbai with some of the senior professionals in the Chemical Industry in India to discuss the challenges in building a leadership pipeline in the industry.

In an interview with CERAWEEK, Steven Goodman, consultant at Egon Zehnder in Houston and leader of the North American Energy Practice, talks about CEOs in energy and stresses the importance of professional CEO succession planning and grooming future leaders.

In the C-suite, big data leaders must be able to show how big data generates value; how investments in big data initiatives should be targeted; and how fast the organization should move to implement them.

In recent years oil and gas companies have applied innovative technologies to make discoveries of vast new hydrocarbon resources. If only it were that easy for them to deal with a dire challenge above ground: identifying and training a new generation of qualified and prepared executives who are ready and willing to lead oil and gas companies at this pivotal time in the industry’s history.

Do you hope to become chief executive of a respected industrial company someday? Don’t assume that by vigorously applying your core strengths and learning everything there is to know about your industry you will climb the leadership ladder all the way to the C-suite.

Just when it seemed that the role of energy CEO couldn’t become any more complex or demanding, it did. Macondo, Fukushima, Keystone, Iran, the Arab Spring, and the rise of unconventional plays offer only the sparest shorthand for the risks, regulatory blowback, and geopolitical uncertainties that now dominate the agenda of the energy chief executive.

Can outstanding, professional people decisions help companies in the chemical industry rise to the challenges that lie ahead and add real value? What are these industry challenges and what exactly does “Talent Management” mean?